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An Evaluation of Arizona’s Federal Pandemic Recovery Investments in Child Care: Landscape, Findings, and Implications for the Early Care and Learning System
In this report, we share the findings of an evaluation of COVID-19 pandemic-era federal relief dollars and their use in the child care system in Arizona.
In December of 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act which included $10 billion in funding for child care for states. In March of 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act was passed by Congress which included $39 billion in new child care funding. These funds were allocated to state Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies to be distributed. In Arizona as the CCDF Lead Agency, the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) Division of Child Care was tasked with this role. Between 2022 and 2024, the CEP examined DES activities funded by these additional child care funds and the implications of these investments in the Arizona child care system including access to child care, supports for the early childhood workforce, and the improvement of health, safety, and quality of child care. In this report, we lay out the background and context, data sources and analyses, key findings, and recommendations.
Suggested Citation:
Alexander, B. L., Meek, S., Palomino, C., Blevins, D., Bucher, E.Z., Ameley-Quaye, A., Soto-Boykin, X., Catherine, E., & Mihirbhai Jayswal, P. (July 2025). An Evaluation of Arizona’s Federal Pandemic Recovery Investments in Child Care: Landscape, Findings, and Implications for the Early Care and Learning System. The Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. https://cep.asu.edu/resources/AnEvaluationofArizona'sFederalPandemicRecoveryInvestments.
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A Profile of Child Care for Children Involved in the Child Welfare System
An area of interest for Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) has been to look carefully into the rates of authorization and utilization of subsidies for children in the child welfare system, who are categorically eligible for child care subsidy.
Suggested Citation:
Suggested Citation: Palomino, C., Meek, S., Alexander, B. L., Bucher, E.Z., Blevins, D., & Mihirbhai Jayswal, P. (July, 2025). A Profile of Child Care for Children Involved in the Child Welfare System. The Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. https://cep.asu.edu/resources/AnEvaluationofArizona'sFederalPandemicRecoveryInvestments.
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Exploring Child Care Subsidy Contracting Patterns in Arizona: Enablers and Barriers
In this report, we share an extension of the Evaluation of Arizona’s Federal Pandemic Recovery Investments in Child Care. This extension was motivated by a finding that the number of child care providers contracted with the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) to serve children receiving child care subsidies had declined since the early 2000s. This extension aimed to explore the potential reasons for this decline. We examined the landscape of contracted providers, enablers or barriers to becoming a contracted provider, and reasons providers are not contracted. To address these questions, we combined administrative data, Child Care Provider Pandemic Relief Experiences Survey data (“provider survey”), and DES contracted status focus groups.